20 Feature HALAL TOURISM


The rise of halal travel


The Global Halal Tourism Summit makes its ATM debut today as the region’s Muslim travel sector goes from strength to strength


Around the world, the Muslim travel market continues to be one of the fastest growing segments in the industry. Worth US$151 billion (AED41.1 billion) in 2015, it represents around 10 percent of the total international tourism market, according to Thomson Reuters research. Its value is tipped to hit the US$243 billion (AED892.5 billion) mark, some 13 percent of total global travel expenditure, by 2021. In recognition of the sector’s growing value and untapped potential, ATM organiser Reed Travel Exhibitions this week launched the inau- gural ATM Global Halal Tourism Summit. Divided into three installments, the summit


brought together some of the world’s leading Muslim travel experts to discuss the nuances of this fast-growing sector, taking a look at how the region benefits in terms of GDP and jobs in a lively opening session. The second session focused on the halal tourism develop- ment strategies of countries including Malaysia,


1


Indonesia, Thailand and Japan, while the third session looked at opportunities to sell and promote inbound and outbound halal tourism in the Middle East — taking into account cultural differences within the sector itself. Halal travel entrepreneur Faeez Fadhlillah, a


panellist at the summit’s opening session, says there’s a great deal of opportunity for those keen to capitalise on the lucrative segment. “In 2016, international tourism earnings were


set to hit US$1.35 trillion (AED4.96 trillion), and a significant amount of this growth is being driven by the rapidly-expanding economies of Asia, Africa and the Middle East,” he says. “These regions, which are the bright spots


for the world’s long-term economic future, house young populations and swelling middle classes, fuelling regional and global consump- tion. They are also home to large and increas- ingly prosperous Muslim populations. Muslim communities in developed economies such as


2


Europe and North America also have consid- erable purchasing power.” According to the State of the Global Islamic


Economy Report 2015, produced by Thomson Reuters in collaboration with DinarStandard, the Islamic economy is growing at nearly double the global rate. Muslim consumer spending on food and lifestyle reached US$1.8 trillion (AED6.61 tril- lion) in 2014 and is projected to reach US$2.6 trillion (AED9.55 trillion) in 2020. Within this, travel and tourism has been identified as one of the key growth sectors.


A BURGEONINGMARKET Fadhlillah has spotted the halal tourism sector’s potential and launched two new online compa- nies designed to meet the needs of Muslim travellers — Salam Standard and Tripfez. Salam Standard, launched in October 2015, is a hospi- tality information tool that lists Muslim-friendly accommodation based on three categories


— Bronze, Silver and Gold — depending on the services and amenities provided. Sister company Tripfez, which launched at last year’s ATM, is a travel review and booking site featur- ing a portfolio of more than 200,000 hotels and resorts globally, including the 50,000 indexed by Salam Standard. In a bid to gain further insight into the


global halal travel market, at the end of 2016 Salam Standard launched the Global Economic Impact of Muslim Tourism Report, which found that the GDP impact of the world’s Muslim tour- ism sector exceeded US$138 billion (AED506.8 billion) in 2015. The industry generated 4.3 million jobs and contributed more than US$18 billion (AED66.11 billion) in tax revenue. “To put this into perspective, a GDP impact


of AED506.87 billion (US$138 billion) is larger than the entire economy of Morocco or Kuwait,” says Fadhlillah. The US and the EU are the top beneficiaries of Muslim travel spending, netting


3


4


5


1 View of rice terraces, Bali, Indonesia 2 Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque, Abu Dhabi 3 Faeez Fadhlillah, founder of Salam Standard and Tripfez 4 Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco 5 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia 6 Arc de Triomphe, Paris


6


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36